I have been pretty lazy with blog posts but whatever, the great thing about blogging is that it’s NOT something I need to do but something I do when I want to. I’m still down here in Vegas where the temperature is between 25-33 celcius every single day. And there are still 50 foreclosures in my complex alone. It seems lots of investors from California speculated that the prices would rise higher and higher when they bought 2 years ago, now they are loosing condos in Chateau Versailles (my complex) left and right, and it seems many out of state and out of country investors such as myself have found highly discounted vacation homes because of it.

Take a look at the Chevy Trail Blazer SUV below. You would think from the photos some thieves came by and stole the rims of this SUV, not so.  This house is being foreclosed on because the owner couldn’t pay the mortgage, my guess (and it’s a good one) is the owner vacated the premises and also left SUV because he couldn’t make payment on it either. He took of his custom rims and sold them probably on Craigslist to make a  bit of money. I can almost guarantee I’m right because when I got my place I had to buy new wash/dryer, as well as my fridge because the previous owners took them and sold them to make some extra cash.

Those pictures below show how bad it is down here, new subdivision and there is a 2 year old SUV on concrete blocks.

The Mirage volcano show, every night at 8 pm, it looks pretty damn real…

really vibrant cactus flower plants at Lone Mountain (3 blocks east of me)

This is one of the more random posts that I have done so far, but the people who know, know that I am very random and all over the map sometimes. This post is all about the pictures, because I don’t have to much to say today. Let’s let the photos speak for me today, shall we?

If you ever have watched Pawn Stars, then you know who Chum Lee is. For the rest of the world he is just some dude who became famous because he works at a pawn shop in Las Vegas. The pawn shop just happens to also be a reality show, and now he’s famous just because he works there. Isn’t life funny that way?

The old man always looks half asleep, and he does sleep half the time (watch the show to see what I mean…).

This chapel was in the film called “The Hang Over”, funniest movie ever!! You go watch it now!

Vancouver graffiti from “Hoser”

caught in front of WalMart in North Las Vegas.

These clouds look insane, like a bomb blew up. They are shaped that way for no reason at all, except that Mother Nature wanted it that way.

ditto..

ditto..

ditto..

graffiti tunnel in Burnaby, B.C.

I mentioned in another post that I bought 1 condo in Las Vegas to rent. The condo was a 1300 sq ft 2 bedroom with 1 car private garage. I have a property management company that is taking care of it for me. Since I am down here in Vegas I wanted to see the condo before it gets rented out and see the upgrades that the management company did. Overall they did a nice job of touching it up before it is rented out. From what the management company has told me they have 2 people wanting to rent the place, I will found out shortly. As for rental rates they are pretty decent, this condo is going to get rented  for either $795  (with no dog) or $825 (with 2 dogs). Considering I bought the place for $64,000, that is pretty damn good cash flow. I know friends in Vancouver who bought a new 1 bedroom in Surrey for $200,000 and are renting it for around $8-$9o0. That is horrible cash flow honestly, but better to invest in something that nothing at all. However you cannot purchase too many condos with negative cash flow, because they can’t cover themselves. Your properties always should cover themselves…

This condo is located just down the hill  (literally 20 second drive ) from my own vacation om here in Las Vegas. which is kinda nice in a way. If you’re thinking of investing in Las Vegas the timing  could not be better, with the Canadian dollar worth more than the US dollar (last time I checked), and such low prices combined with people looking to rent because they have lots their homes it’s a win, win, win situation, for real estate investors.

This is an opportunity that will not be around forever, and then you will kick yourself when you didn’t do it. Easier said than done, I know however you need to push yourself if you want to get ahead. Nothing comes by watching TV, go out and make your life happen.

Action = $$$$

sincerely,
Cosimo

the entrance is located on the side of the building. My rental condo is right across from the clubhouse that has a full gym as well as an outside pool

living room

dining area

view of kitchen from outdoor deck area…

view from patio of Lone mountain…

view from patio of parking area…

view of kitchen area…

view of wrap around kitchen area (the stove is gone, need to buy one)

view of closet

view of bathroom in master bedroom

view of tub in master bedroom

view of the washroom in the master bedroom

This condo cost me $64,000, is that insane I think so!! Every time I think of Vancouver real estate I just shake my head (still doing it now)….

Yah, we arrived safe and sound at 7pm on Friday night! The truck was full of bugs and we were all tired but we arrived. Overall the drive from Vancouver to Vegas wasn’t that bad actually. We woke up at 6 am but didn’t leave Vancouver until 7 because having 2 kids always takes more time to do anything. The Peace Arch border was empty which was great. I got a speeding ticket  just before Seattle, fuck. It cost me $96, which sucked but whatever. I wasn’t trying to speed it just kinda happened. After that little fiasco I kept my truck on cruise control the rest of the road trip, so I couldn’t go over the speed limit.  We drove though the Cascade Mountains and Enumclaw, Washington, where it was pissing rain.

The drive from Vancouver to  Boise, Idaho was 10 hours, we  got to redneck Boise at 6 pm. We stayed the night in a really nice hotel that was basically brand new, and it only cost $63. We stayed in a town called Meridian which is a suburb of Boise. I found the hotel on HotWire.com and it was a 3 star hotel that had free wifi through out the hotel, as well as a complimentary breakfast for the whole family! It was well worth the price. If you want the best possible deals on hotels as well as airfare, then check out HotWire.com. I’ll get the name later, can’t recall it right now.

I should also mention that every few hours my son would have a meltdown and start crying, so he would be let out of his car seat. He would cry for at least 30 minutes sometimes, and he cries really loud, lol. We did try to stop and give him what he needed (breast milk, diaper change or just comforting), but it wasn’t always an option. I knew driving 20 hours with small kids isn’t the easiest way to travel, but what the hell I like taking chances! Overall the kids were pretty damn good, I must say. The DVD players playing “How To Eat fried Worms” on the backseats might have something to do with their overall good behavior, lol.

The drive from Boise to Vegas started to drag the last few hours, since I just wanted to get there, unpack and relax. As we kept driving south in the desert towards Las Vegas the temperature kept creeping up and up.  By the time we got into Vegas the temperature was  27°C, it was perfect. Now I can relax in the sun for a month, work and not worrying about the rain.
Oh yeah for gas, I spent around $250 from Vancouver to Las Vegas which is pretty damn good considering I drive a V8 Escalade  that isn’t really economical. Gas in the USA is at $0.80 per liter compared to Vancouver that is at $1.12! Being Canadian we play allot more for gas, housing, you name it, compared to the Yankees. Now I can tell people I drove through Idaho, wee I am so proud, haha.

Ok that’s enough for now, time for an espresso.

driving through Washington, rain and more rain….

someone watching a DVD, with a lollipop..

driving over some bridge in eastern Washington…

A house on the move!

Idaho = farm country & potatoes for miles and miles.

Yes, there was still snow all over Nevada mountains

We stopped in this creepy little town in South Nevada, to get some gas. I swear to god everyone was in bred lol.

Having some food at the gas station…

little town of horrors….

I drove that truck for 20 hours in 2 days. I’m still tired thinking about it! I would never make it as a trucker!

creepy town, USA.. Horror movie anyone? Reminds me of that cheezy movie called “House Of Wax“, with Paris Hilton in it.

miles and miles of scenery like this..

Palms trees in the middle of no where. Palm trees are not native to the desert FYI…

Well it looks like people are interested in doing online marketing, so far the DJ that I have been doing online marketing for is slow.  That is one problem I could have seen coming is the lack of traffic and searches for local searches as “Vancouver disc jockey”. Everything in life is about trial and error and you never know until you try.  That’s ok though I have my second client sand will be starting on building a quick site to promote via paid marketing and start ranking for organic traffic.

Today, however I am preparing for the big road trip down to Las Vegas. The whole trip is a 20 hour drive from Vancouver and going through potato county (Idaho) and then to Las Vegas . We will be stopping in off in Boise, Idaho for the night and then be in Vegas by roughly 3-4 pm Friday. I am super stoked since the temperature is a nice balmy 28 celcuis! I can’t wait!

I have a whole list of people coming to visit, from my brother and his family, my mother in law, as well as my wife’s aunt and uncle.  I have another friend going to down to Vegas who we will be meeting up with, as well as my 3 cousins and their spouses. It’s a full house. People from Vancouver love going to Las Vegas, it’s a cheap, quick get away.

Of course being the workaholic that I am, I will be working  by the pool courtesy of the free wifi available from the clubhouse  in my complex. I can’t wait to work by the pool, wee.

Well that’s about it for now. I need to do a bit of packing, then register a new domain name for the new local client that I will be doing online marketing for.

I took a screen shot from Google Maps of the exact route we will be taking to get down to Vegas. This is the 20 hours driving route, I could have taken the 1-5 route through Oregon and cut across Cali but I would rather save the 4 hours an drive through farm country.  I can always take the scenic route on the way back if I want to.

Next post is from Vegas, ciao!!!!!!!